Shock case study 2 City of God - Audience

Consideration of Audience/Spectator Responses – Then and Now

Audience Theories (Deconstruction and Effects Theories)

Key terms:

Example of an exam question:

With reference to the films you have studied for this topic, explore some of the techniques that
are particularly powerful in producing an emotional response in the spectator.
Key Scenes:
Opening Scene: This scene establishes the setting of the film, through the use of fast-paced editing, mise en scene, cinematography and sound.

We can also apply Claude Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary opposites – the idea that the constant creation of conflict/opposition propels narrative – to the film. Remember that these opposites can be anything, some examples in City of God are:

• The contrast between the city as a glamorous tourist destination and the povert and deprivation in the slums that surround it.
• The portrayal of the City of God in the 60s, the bright lighting and wide open spaces, and the dark, grey closed in slum at the end.
• The conflict between the police and the gangsters.
• The conflict between honesty and dishonesty.
• The conflict between the values of the women – who invariably want their men to settle down and lead a ‘normal’ life, and the men, who are invariably looking for reasons not to!
• The opposites of the camera and the gun, which is one of the main themes of the film.

The are also numerous narrative enigma – unanswered questions – that mislead the audience.

• The opening sequence is that of a relaxed street party which leads to a confrontation, and when re-played at the end of the film turns into a massacre.
• The Miami Hotel raid massacre eventually turns out to be Lil Ze’s first act of mass violence.
• Bene’s meeting with Thiago leads to the bike race, which we assume will end in violence, but actually ends in Bene buying trainers and clothes and getting a more modern image.
• Rocket and Stringy’s abortive attempt to hold up a car, and coming across a kindly driver who befriends them, leads to the scene where the police find a body by the roadside, and we assume that Rocket and Stringy have succumbed to violence and killed the driver, but then the car drives past with Rocket and Stringy still inside.

Shock Case Study 2: City of God - Filmmaker's intentions

Past exam question:

With reference to the films you have studied for this topic, explore some of the techniques that are particularly powerful in producing an emotional response in the spectator. [35]

Starter task: Match the terms to the definitions.

The use of of ‘shock’ in cinema to communicate powerful messages to audiences and elicit a range of responses from them is an important aspect for you to study when approaching section B of the exam.

Key terms: Shocking could be defined in three ways:

1. Visceral shock (often sex and/or violence)

2. Narrative shock unexpected ‘turn’ of the plot – e.g. Marion Crane’s demise in Psycho.

3. Political shock (a subversive message).

Director: Fernando Meirelles 

• Born as middle class so wasn’t accustomed to Favela’s
• Successful film maker prior to City of God•
• Read book COG in 1997• Challenging to make as has more than 350 named characters• 
• Actors were non-professionals, chose youngsters from Favela’s• 
• Won best director/nominated for it – won 4 Oscars•
• Low Budget Brazilian film• 
• Bigger than ‘Star Wars’ in Brazil• 
• Used music throughout film to create distance from action

Discuss the director's intentions.
Meirelles wanted to draw attention to the cyclical nature of life in the Favelas.
Each generation is learning from the last• 

Each years gets more serious and life threatening• 

Easily sucked into a life of crime and drugs• 

Loyalty• 

Cycle you can’t get out of.

Meirelles also wanted to draw attention to the two sides of Brazil;
RICH: POOR:• 

Diverse culture • --Favela’s• 

Wealth in Rio • --6.2 million in this community• 

Vast rain forests • 

Music-fuelled cities • --Shanty town  • 

Drug scene•--Idyllic beaches

He did this by identifying the tensions he saw in CoG;

• Age• Setting• Drugs• Poverty• Violence• Generations• Gangs• Police• People• Trapped• Crime

Task 1: In groups, discuss and note the themes, messages and values described in CoG. Handout provided.

Task 2: Watch the opening scene of City of God and list how the occasions of narrative shock have been constructed. 
Consider; Settings, costumes/props, sound, camera angles/movement, editing, body language, connotations.
Handout provided.

Task 3: In groups, discuss and note how emotional response has been created by the filmmaker in the opening scene of CoG.

If you run away they’ll get you and if you stay, they’ll get you too.”

Violence is the main driving force of the film. Shootings, beatings and rape form the core of the action. But the film’s attitude to violence is a means to an end for the film maker’s main motivation for making the film –   the wish for social change. It shows that the favelas are a breeding ground for this violence because the people have no hope of achieving anything other than through violence, however, apart from a brief reference to a flood being the cause of an influx of people the film makers do not provide any political reference points or background – the ‘sixties’, the ‘seventies’ are just chapter headings that don’t explain what was going on in Brazilian society that created these slums.

The film does have simple lessons to learn – if you live by the gun you die by the gun, if you avoid violence and retain some honest values and ambitions you escape. The film’s ending is on the one hand positive – Rocket is saved, but on the other hand the Runts are a more violent gang than ever. These are simplistic and stereotype the slum dwellers – presumably the majority of people are still trying to scrape some kind of honest living but you don’t see many examples of those except on the fringe of the plot.

The institutions backing the film had originally intended the film just for the Brazilian market, but the film’s success at Film Festivals gave it a life of its own, and Mierelles has used the film’s unprecedented success as a platform for to focus the world’s attention on the darkness of Rio’s slums, one of the most violent and dangerous places in South America. The film could not have been the commercial success it was without the backing of Miramax, the film distribution company, but remember Miramax is a commercial company, part of the Disney Corporation, who do not do things for charity, the people behind Miramax – the Weinstein brothers – must have spotted a commercial opportunity in the film.

Complete Viewing (Macro and Micro Language)

·         Filmmaker’s Intentions (Narrative, Political, Auteur, Technical)

·         Reasons for Use of Shock in City of God

04.Micro elements in City of God from Naamah Hill

Shock Case Study 2: City of God (Mereilles, 2002, Brazil)

  City of God (Mereilles, 2002, Brazil)

City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) is a 2002 Brazilian hood film directed by Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Kátia Lund, released in its home country in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. The story was adapted by Bráulio Mantovani from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins, but the plot is loosely based on real events. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s, with the closure of the film depicting the war between the drug dealer Li'l Zé and vigilante-turned-criminal Knockout Ned. 
The tagline is "If you run, the beast catches you; if you stay, the beast eats you", a proverb analogous to the English "Damned if you do, damned if you don't".

Impressions of Brazil/Representations

Co g 1 from aealey

History,

City of God was founded in 1966 as a replacement housing project for those living in the Favelas. The film opens during this time and highlights the positive intentions of the Brazilian government

In 1964 the leftist government was over-thrown and the city left incomplete. As a result the city became a haven for criminals, drug runners and the poor under-class. The film follows the evolution of the city and pinpoints key issues and events that led to the City of God seen in the 1980’s.

The 20 year narrative time frame also shows the impact the environment has on its citizens.

Brazil history from aealey

Culture:
Some aspects of Brazilian culture were influenced by the contributions of Italian, German and other European as well Japanese and Arab immigrants who arrived in large numbers in the South and Southeast of Brazil. The core culture of Brazil is derived from Portuguese culture, because of its strong colonial ties with the Portuguese empire. Among other influences, the Portuguese introduced the Portuguese language, Roman Catholicism and colonial architectural styles. The culture was, however, also strongly influenced by African, indigenous and non-Portuguese European cultures and traditions.
Colonisation,

Tensions





(Macro and Micro Language) and Notes



Past Questions:

Compare the attitudes to poverty conveyed in the films you have studied for this topic

OR

Explore how stylistic choices contribute to the representation of the urban experience in the films you have studied for this topic January 2011

Past Questions: 

How far does the impact of the films you have studied for this topic depend on distinctive uses of film techniques?

OR

How far do the films you have studied for this topic offer an analysis of the social issues they present? June 2010

The Crying Game, Emotional Response, Shock

Spectatorship: Popular Film and Emotional Response.

·         Reasons for Use of Shock in The Crying Game

Consider 

‘However obvious the techniques used, the spectator will nearly always surrender to the
manipulation of their emotions by the filmmaker.’ Discuss how far this is true with reference to
the films you have studied for this topic.

Shocking could be defined in three ways:

1. Visceral shock (often sex and/or violence)

2. Narrative shock unexpected ‘turn’ of the plot – e.g. Marion Crane’s demise in Psycho.

3. Political shock (a subversive message).

Starter:
In groups, discuss and note the occasions of visceral shock in The Crying Game.

___________________________________________________________________

The Crying Game is a 1992 British psychological thriller drama film written and directed by Neil Jordan. The film explores themes of race, gender, nationality, and sexuality against the backdrop of the Irish Troubles. The original working title of the film was The Soldier’s Wife.

The use of of ‘shock’ in cinema to communicate powerful messages to audiences and elicit a range of responses from them is an important aspect for you to study when approaching section B of the exam.

Task:

In groups, discuss and note the occasions of narrative shock unexpected ‘turn’ of the plot in The Crying Game.

Themes, Messages and Values

Jordan’s enduring concerns are for political, sexual and racial tolerance and these concerns permeate The Crying Game.

The basic premise was the friendship that develops between two opponents during a conflict. Jordan also wanted to contrast black and Irish experience in Britain.

The Crying Game is the story of the redemption of its protagonist Fergus, one of Jordan’s tormented heroes who must accept personal responsibility, having previously followed orders. The film examines a triangular affair that has its roots in the broader history of Anglo-Irish relationships. It is an exceptionally bold combination of the personal and the political and crossed over from its independent origins to ask conservative, mainstream audiences to root for the love affair of an IRA terrorist and a gay transvestite.

The Crying Game is a warning against violence and a persuasive plea for tolerance. Jordan equates sexual difference with race, side-steps the issue of homosexuality and presents its only female character as a killing machine who also has to make the tea.

 Nearly all of Jordan’s books and films play out variations on this single most dominant theme of his work; the triangular relationship. In most cases this takes the form of a sexually naive man becoming obsessed by an (often, though not in the case of this film) older woman, whose identity is a mystery to him and who has already been claimed by another. In addition to its personal manifestations this relationship could be seen to represent the triangle comprising Eire, Northern Ireland and England. In his introduction to the published script of The Crying Game Jordan claimed that he wanted his film to dig past the surface of friendship between hostage and captive to uncover the erotic possibility and sense of mutual need and identification that could have provided salvation. He found the key to this by adding a third character to the equation - Dil, who embodied the love the two men cannot express for each other.

Questions for consideration

How does film work to generate emotion? Here the emphasis may be on relatively straightforward issues like the use of mise-en- scene, staging and music or more complex issues of identification and spectator alignment with particular characters?

Discuss in groups, make notes individually.

How far does the emotional impact of the film derive from contextual knowledge - in this case, our ability to respond to the film in the gap between fictional representation and historical fact?

Discuss in groups, make notes individually.

Emotional response and emotional involvement

An important feature of the narrative are the characters: In mainstream films, characters are frequently cast in terms of the characters we like and those we don’t (crudely: heroes and villains).

We are encouraged to identify with characters, to become emotionally involved with them, to feel as they do.

How are we encouraged to identify with characters in the film The Crying Game?

Discuss in groups, make notes individually.

It is a modern love story set against a contemporary war, yet the film’s sense of Fergus’ destiny and emphasis on gallantry seem like something out of time. Fergus is himself caught between past and future, between Jude (the devil he knows) and the deep blue sea of Dil. 

These two characters are continually compared or contrasted but the film is ultimately more concerned with masculinity than femininity.

Homework:
Answer the following previous exam question:

How far do spectators respond to the emotional content in films in the way that the director intended?

1 1/2 - 2 pages

E-mail responses to Ealey_A@sjd.ac.uk before Monday 13.1.17